Spaniards rally for Basque terrorist prisoners

Bilbao

Thousands line the streets of the Basque city of Bilbao to supports attempts to transfer ETA prisoners to jails within Basque country. Photo: AFP

THOUSANDS of Spaniards have marched demanding enhanced rights for imprisoned members of the terrorist Basque separatist organisation ETA.

The event, in the Basque city of Bilbao, was attended by high-ranking regional politicians and celebrities such as Pilar Bardem - mother of Oscar winner Javier Bardem - and former UNESCO director-general Federico Mayor Zaragoza.

French politicians and members of the Irish Republican party Sinn Fein also took part.

Herrira, a protest movement for prisoners' rights, organised the rally. Its protest slogan was ''human rights, determination, peace''. There was no violence reported.

Herrira has demanded that more than 700 ETA prisoners be transferred to prisons in Basque country to make it easier for relatives to visit. Currently, the prisoners are spread around Spain to make it more difficult for them to communicate with one another.

ETA waged an armed campaign for an independent Basque homeland from 1959 until 2011, when it ended its armed resistance. However, the group has neither surrendered its weapons nor dissolved its leadership structures.

Nonetheless, Spanish authorities say the group is in its ''end phase''.